Richie McCaw’s winning try against the Springboks on Saturday was hailed as a moment of genius, while some have called it illegal, and it has had a fair bit of scrutiny this week. Technically legal or not, it was very well created, but it’s not the first time we’ve seen it.
Two years back Samoa did the exact same thing against the Springboks, also resulting in a try. It’s almost a carbon copy of McCaw’s, and equally effective. But who is to blame defensively? You can work that out for yourself, as you can watch both tries together below.
The Springboks beat Samoa convincingly in 2013, but McCaw’s try on Saturday proved vital and there will have been plenty of headscratching in the South African camp.
Interestingly, the legendary All Black skipper said that it was a move they practiced during the week, and while it was going to go to number nine originally, as with the Samoa try, he pulled rank and said he’ll step up and take it on.
“I had to pull rank,” McCaw jokingly told reporters. “When we practiced the move during the week there was a debate as to whether I or a half-back would execute it. I am pretty relieved that it worked out.”
New Zealand won 27-20. You can view post match interviews and the full match replay here
EXTRA: The match against Samoa in 2013 is the same one in which Alesana Tuilagi was red carded for almost taking Jean De Villiers’s head off. You can watch that here.
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